Updates

  1. Search groups its results by kind: people, companies, geographies, subjects, topics, books, funds, fund letters and papers.
  2. The Books table lists who recommended each book by name, and the browser tab names the section you are in.
  3. Feedback can take a screenshot of the page, or one you paste or choose, and opens in the corner beside Updates.
  4. Each rail button reopens its section where you left it, and Browse, Table and People show on every book and subject page.
  5. Filters grey out choices that hold nothing instead of hiding them, and Books › People filters by authors or recommenders.
  6. Feedback takes a subject line and up to three screenshots.
  7. Biographies are grouped by the person they are about: 41 new pages, from Abraham Lincoln to Lee Kuan Yew.
  8. Sport splits into 23 sports, and Religion into one topic per faith.
  9. Book lists show as cards: the cover, one recommendation quote and every recommender by name.
  10. Seventeen subjects that had two or three pages under different names now have one page each.
  11. Every page lists its Experts as authors and recommenders, with a link to them on the Experts tab.
  12. Economics, Financial history, Financial panics and Accounting are subjects of their own, with one page per financial crisis.
  13. Book, person and subject pages open inside the app, so the tabs stay in view.
  14. 996 more book covers, and photographs or logos for 227 more people and companies.
  15. Books › Browse shows every subject as cards, and the rail holds Fund letters, Papers, Experts, Books and Funds.
  16. Every topic over 150 books splits into narrower topics, each with a page of its own.

Send feedback

What is it?
Screenshots, up to 3 (optional)
or paste one with Ctrl+V

We use your email only to reply to you.
EN

Electricity, nuclear and renewables

Environment and Energy

Books on energy systems and transitions, the electric grid, nuclear power, renewables, batteries and the minerals they need.

41 books on Electricity, nuclear and renewables, 5 of them tier 1, recommended by 9 people including Bill Gates and Mohnish Pabrai.

41 books · 10 experts

Start here

  1. Networks of PowerThomas P. Hughes, 1983
  2. Energy: A Beginner's GuideVaclav Smil, 2006
  3. Energy TransitionsVaclav Smil, 2010
  4. Energy and CivilizationVaclav Smil, 2017
  5. How the World Really WorksVaclav Smil, 2022

The best books on Electricity, nuclear and renewables 41

Networks of PowerNetworks of Power
T1 Networks of Power
Thomas P. Hughes · 1983
The classic history of electrification as a system business.
Open Library
Energy: A Beginner's GuideEnergy: A Beginner's Guide
T1 Energy: A Beginner's Guide
Vaclav Smil · 2006
Smil's short primer on energy conversions and their physical limits
Open Library
Recommended byMark ZuckerbergBill Gates
Energy TransitionsEnergy Transitions
T1 Energy Transitions
Vaclav Smil · 2010
Open Library
Recommended byBill Gates
Energy and CivilizationEnergy and Civilization
T1 Energy and Civilization
Vaclav Smil · 2017
Why energy transitions historically take decades, not years.
Open Library
Recommended byBalaji S. SrinivasanBill GatesNat Eliason
How the World Really WorksHow the World Really Works
T1 How the World Really Works
Vaclav Smil · 2022
The materials and energy arithmetic that any transition thesis has to survive.
Open Library
Recommended byBill Gates
Principles of Public Utility RatesPrinciples of Public Utility Rates
T2 Principles of Public Utility Rates
James C. Bonbright · 1961
The rate-making reference: how an allowed return is actually set.
Open Library
Cobalt RedCobalt Red
T2 Cobalt Red
Siddharth Kara · 2022
Artisanal cobalt mining in the DRC and the battery supply chain.
Open Library
Material WorldMaterial World
T2 Material World
Ed Conway · 2023
Six raw materials that make modern industry work.
Open Library
InsullInsull
T3 Insull
Forrest McDonald · 1962
The man who invented the regulated-return utility bargain, and the holding company that killed him.
Open Library
Empires of LightEmpires of Light
T3 Empires of Light
Jill Jonnes · 2003
The current war: Edison against Westinghouse and Tesla.
Open Library
“One of my favorite history books," on the electrification rivalry of Edison, Tesla, and Westinghouse.”Chris Dixon
Recommended byChris Dixon
Power to Save the WorldPower to Save the World
T3 Power to Save the World
Gwyneth Cravens · 2007
A sceptic's conversion, useful on how the public risk perception formed.
Open Library
UraniumUranium
T3 Uranium
Tom Zoellner · 2009
The rock itself: mining, boom towns and the geopolitics of supply.
Open Library
Smart PowerSmart Power
T3 Smart Power
Peter Fox-Penner · 2010
Utility business models after the regulated-growth era.
Open Library
Atomic AccidentsAtomic Accidents
T3 Atomic Accidents
James Mahaffey · 2014
What actually went wrong, and how much of the fear is proportionate.
Open Library
The Elements of PowerThe Elements of Power
T3 The Elements of Power
David S. Abraham · 2015
How minor metals are mined, traded and hoarded.
Open Library
The Powerhouse: Inside the Invention of a Ba
T3 The Powerhouse: Inside the Invention of a Battery to Save the World
Steve LeVine · 2015
The battery-technology race that decides Tesla's cost curve.
Open Library
The GridThe Grid
T3 The Grid
Gretchen Bakke · 2016
Why the regulated grid's economics are breaking.
Open Library
A Bright FutureA Bright Future
T3 A Bright Future
Joshua S. Goldstein, Staffan A. Qvist · 2019
The Sweden-and-France case that nuclear is the fastest decarbonisation path.
Open Library
SuperpowerSuperpower
T3 Superpower
Russell Gold · 2019
One man's attempt to build a national transmission line, and what stopped him.
Open Library
The Rare Metals WarThe Rare Metals War
T3 The Rare Metals War
Guillaume Pitron · 2020
Rare earths, Chinese supply control and the cost of the green transition.
Open Library
ElectrifyElectrify
T3 Electrify
Saul Griffith · 2021
The demand side: what full electrification of homes and vehicles requires.
Open Library
Volt Rush
T3 Volt Rush
Henry Sanderson · 2022
Lithium, cobalt and nickel supply chains behind the EV build-out.
Open Library
EnergiesEnergies
T4 Energies
Vaclav Smil · 1998
Open Library
Recommended byBill Gates
Wind Energy Basics, Second Edition: A Guide Wind Energy Basics, Second Edition: A Guide to Home- and Community-Scale Wind-Energy Systems
T4 Wind Energy Basics, Second Edition: A Guide to Home- and Community-Scale Wind-Energy Systems
Paul Gipe · 1999
Open Library
Recommended byMohnish Pabrai
Energy at the CrossroadsEnergy at the Crossroads
T4 Energy at the Crossroads
Vaclav Smil · 2003
Open Library
Recommended byBill Gates
Got Sun? Go Solar, Expanded 2nd Edition: HarGot Sun? Go Solar, Expanded 2nd Edition: Harness Nature's Free Energy to Heat and Power Your Grid-Tied Home
T4 Got Sun? Go Solar, Expanded 2nd Edition: Harness Nature's Free Energy to Heat and Power Your Grid-Tied Home
Rex A. Ewing · 2005
Open Library
Recommended byMohnish Pabrai
The Bottomless Well: The Twilight of Fuel, tThe Bottomless Well: The Twilight of Fuel, the Virtue of Waste, and Why We Will Never Run Out of Energy
T4 The Bottomless Well: The Twilight of Fuel, the Virtue of Waste, and Why We Will Never Run Out of Energy
Peter W. Huber, Mark P. Mills · 2005
Open Library
Recommended byMohnish Pabrai
The Renewable Energy Handbook: A Guide to RuThe Renewable Energy Handbook: A Guide to Rural Energy Independence, Off-Grid and Sustainable Living
T4 The Renewable Energy Handbook: A Guide to Rural Energy Independence, Off-Grid and Sustainable Living
William H. Kemp · 2005
Open Library
Recommended byMohnish Pabrai
The GridThe Grid
T4 The Grid
Phillip F. Schewe · 2007
Open Library
Recommended byBill Gates
Energy Myths and RealitiesEnergy Myths and Realities
T4 Energy Myths and Realities
Vaclav Smil · 2010
Open Library
Recommended byBill Gates
Reinventing the Automobile: Personal Urban MReinventing the Automobile: Personal Urban Mobility for the 21st Century
T4 Reinventing the Automobile: Personal Urban Mobility for the 21st Century
William J. Mitchell, Chris E. Borroni-Bird, Lawrence D. Burns · 2010
Open Library
Recommended byPatrick Collison
Powering the FuturePowering the Future
T4 Powering the Future
Robert B. Laughlin · 2011
Open Library
Recommended bySam Altman
Unlocking Energy InnovationUnlocking Energy Innovation
T4 Unlocking Energy Innovation
Richard K. Lester · 2011
Open Library
Recommended byBill Gates
RareRare
T4 Rare
Keith Veronese · 2015
Popular account of the scarcest industrial elements.
Open Library
The Great Race: The Global Quest for the CarThe Great Race: The Global Quest for the Car of the Future
T4 The Great Race: The Global Quest for the Car of the Future
Levi Tillemann · 2015
Open Library
Recommended byMohnish Pabrai
The Grid: Biography of an American TechnologThe Grid: Biography of an American Technology
T4 The Grid: Biography of an American Technology
Julie A. Cohn · 2017
Institutional history of interconnection and who controls it.
Open Library
Shorting the Grid
T4 Shorting the Grid
Meredith Angwin · 2020
Deregulated wholesale markets and reliability risk.
Open Library
Plentiful Energy
T4 Plentiful Energy
Yoon Il Chang
unverified
Recommended bySam Altman
Reinventing FireReinventing Fire
T4 Reinventing Fire
Amory Lovins
unverified
Recommended byBill GatesEv Williams
Sustainable Energy
T4 Sustainable Energy
David J.C. Mackay
unverified
Recommended byBill Gates
Sustainable Materials
T4 Sustainable Materials
Julian M. Allwood
unverified
Recommended byBill Gates

Experts 10

The people who wrote this page's books, and the people who recommend them.

Authors 1

Vaclav Smilwrote 7 books here

Recommenders 9

Bill Gatesrecommends 12 books here
MP
Mohnish Pabrairecommends 5 books hereSam Altmanrecommends 2 books here
BS
Balaji S. Srinivasanrecommends 1 book hereChris Dixonrecommends 1 book hereEv Williamsrecommends 1 book hereMark Zuckerbergrecommends 1 book here
NE
Nat Eliasonrecommends 1 book herePatrick Collisonrecommends 1 book here
See all 10 in the Experts tab →

More environment and energy: ← Climate change and sustainability · Nature, conservation and Earth science → · All environment and energy